THE   BEGINNINGS  OF  COLLEGE 
HISTORY 


AN    ADDRESS 

Delivered  at   the    Massachusetts    Agricultural  College,    Amherst,    Mass. 

Oct.  2,  1907 


MARQUIS    F.    DICKINSON,    Esq.,  of  Boston 


^ 


BOSTON 

WRIGHT  AND   POTTER   PRINTING   COMPANY 

18  Post  Office  Square 

1908 


wo>mh£iment&  &£ 


THE   BEGINNINGS  OF  COLLEGE 
HISTORY 


AN    ADDRESS 

Delivered   at    the    Massachusetts    Agricultural   College,    Amherst,    Mass. 

Oct.  2,  1907 


MARQUIS    F.    DICKINSON,    Esq.,  of  Boston 


p 


BOSTON 

WRIGHT   AND   POTTER   PRINTING    COMPANY 

18  Post  Office  Square 

1908 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  Member  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/beginningsofcollOOdick 


The  Beginnings  of  College  History. 


By  M.  F.  Dickinson,  Esq.,   of  Boston. 


It  is  not  always  easy  to  touch  the  sources  of  controlling  influences.  The 
head  of  the  spring  may  be,  generally  is,  somewhat  remote  from  the  spot 
where  its  sweet  waters  emerge  upon  the  surface.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
discover  among  the  northern  hills  the  tiny  lake  which  is  the  very  head  water 
of  yonder  broad  Connecticut.  These  analogies  hold  as  to  educational  move- 
ments and  institutions.  We  may  trace  back  the  history  of  the  world's  oldest 
and  greatest  centers  of  learning  until  our  quest  is  lost  in  the  dimness  of  tradi- 
tion; but  even  then  perhaps  we  shall  not  reach  their  real  origin.  National 
enthusiasms,  religions,  even  wars,  patriotic  inspirations,  social  movements,  the 
benevolence  of  individuals  and  communities, —  all  have  played  their  effective 
parts,  under  varying  conditions  and  circumstances,  in  enlarging  the  boundaries 
of  educational  influence  and  power.  And  so  it  happens  that  in  the  last  analysis 
it  may  be  impossible  for  me  to  state  exactly  what  particular  influence  most 
effectively  contributed  to  the  establishment  of  the  institution  which  forty  years 
ago  to-day  threw  open  its  doors  to  the  aspiring  young  men  who  constituted  its 
first  entering  class.  No  man  can  tell  just  where  lay  the  one  efficient,  creative 
cause  of  our  college  life,  nor  exactly  who  proposed  the  seed  thought  out  of 
which  has  grown  modern  agricultural  education  and  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College,  whose  fortieth  festal  day  we  are  here  to  celebrate.  I 
say  all  this,  not  forgetting  the  great  Morrill  act  of  1862,  upon  which  the  super- 
structure of  our  college  life  is  laid.  It  would  be  difficult,  perhaps  impossible, 
for  any  man  to  corral  in  a  single  statement,  however  full,  all  the  sources 
of  our  existence.  The  most  that  can  be  done  in  the  half  hour  allotted  me 
is  to  point  out  the  particular  influences  and  the  particular  men  that  impress 
me  as  the  most  conspicuously  prominent  in  laying  our  foundations. 

The  war  of  the  American  revolution  left  the  thirteen  colonies  exhausted  and 
poor.  Education  was  at  a  low  ebb;  the  ambition  of  our  hardy  New  England 
yeomanry  was  well-nigh  crushed  out  under  the  adverse  conditions  created  by 
a  depreciated  currency  and  universal  bankruptcy,  which  seemed  to  threaten 
our  rural  communities.  The  breaking  out  of  Shay's  rebellion  here,  similar 
political  disturbances  elsewhere,  and  the  feeling  of  universal  unrest  and  dis- 
satisfaction prevalent  among  the  common  people  of  most  of  the  colonies,  were 
ominous  signs  of  great  national  peril.  The  exigency  compelled  the  establish- 
ment of  a  central  government  and  the  adoption  of  a  federal  constitution  as  the 


only  remedy  from  anarchy  and  the  loss  of  free  institutions.  When  the  head 
master  of  the  Boston  Latin  School  heard  the  news  of  Lexington,  he  sent  the 
boys  home,  declaring,  in  the  prevailing  doggerel  style  of  the  time:  "War  has 
begun  and  school  is  done."  From  the  opening  of  the  revolutionary  struggle 
until  its  results  were  garnered  up  by  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1789 
there  was  not  a  moment  of  national  security.  When  the  work  of  that  conven- 
tion was  accepted  by  the  States,  then  was  guaranteed  to  America  the  indis- 
soluble union  of  the  federal  States  and  the  immortal  perpetuity  of  federal 
powers.  The  establishment  of  an  orderly  government  at  once  enlarged  the 
outlook  and  stimulated  the  aspirations  of  the  people  everywhere.  Hope  took 
the  place  of  discouragement,  business  enterprises  began  to  prosper,  and  the 
faces  of  all  men  seemed  to  be  turned  toward  the  morning  of  a  new  day  of 
greatness  and  glory.  With  this  material  improvement  came  a  new  mental 
alertness  which  everywhere  took  possession  of  the  nation;  and  in  the  develop- 
ment which  followed,  the  cause  of  education  secured  its  full  share  of  betterment. 
The  future  welfare  of  the  country,  and  of  the  whole  country  as  distinguished 
from  the  separate  States,  became  a  subject  of  intense  interest  and  speculation. 
It  began  to  be  understood  as  never  before  that  the  agricultural  resources  of 
the  United  States  would  prove  in  the  end  the  greatest  of  all  its  assets,  and 
accordingly  ideas  and  plans  for  agricultural  improvement  began  to  press  upon 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  and  patriotic  citizens. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  indications  of  an  enlarged  and  more  intelli- 
gent interest  in  agriculture,  and  of  the  importance  of  more  widely  disseminated 
knowledge  on  farm  subjects,  first  appeared  in  the  principal  centers  of  popula- 
tion. This  is  the  point  from  which  I  trace  the  first  important  influence  among 
the  beginnings  of  college  history,  to  which  I  wish  to  refer. 

In  the  year  1792  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  incorporated  the  Massa- 
chusetts Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture.  This  ancient  organization  is  still 
in  existence,  fulfilling  its  unselfish  mission  after  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
years  of  patriotic  and  fruitful  service.  No  other  single  organization  in  New 
England  contributed  so  much  in  the  earlier  periods  to  the  advancement  of 
agricultural  knowledge;  no  other  has  given  so  strong  an  incidental  impulse  to 
the  cause  of  agricultural  education.  In  1792  few  societies  of  agriculture  ex- 
isted anywhere.  Great  Britain  had  only  two,  —  one  in  Dublin,  a  small  affair, 
the  other  in  Scotland,  —  for  the  British  Board  of  Agriculture  was  not  created 
until  1793.  So  far  as  America  was  concerned,  efforts  in  this  direction  seem  to 
have  been  confined  to  the  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  and  one  or 
two  of  the  Canadian  provinces ;  but  the  Massachusetts  society  of  which  I  speak 
was  the  first  on  the  continent  to  receive  legislative  sanction  and  formal  incor- 
poration. It  was  called  into  existence  by  citizens  of  the  highest  distinction 
and  influence.  At  the  head  of  the  original  incorporators  stood  Samuel  Adams, 
the  great  colonial  leader;  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln,  who  received  the  sword  of 
Cornwallis  at  Yorktown;  Thomas  Russell,  one  of  the  merchant  princes  of 
Boston,  once  the  owner  of  the  Vassall  estate  at  Cambridge,  which  we  now 
cherish  as  the  home  of  Longfellow;  Charles  Bulfinch,  the  famous  architect 
who  designed  our  venerable  State  House,  and  was  architect  of  the  Capitol  at 


Washington  as  originally  constructed;  Christopher  Gore,  distinguished  legis- 
lator and  diplomatist,  United  States  Senator  and  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
benefactor  of  Harvard  College  to  the  extent  of  $100,000, —  a  great  gift  for  that 
day;  John  Lowell,  the  distinguished  jurist,  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1780,  where  he  secured  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  our  State  by  the  insertion  into  the  constitution,  in  our  declaration  of  rights, 
of  the  statement  that  "all  men  are  born  free  and  equal"  (thus  extending  the 
thesis  of  Jefferson  in  the  great  declaration  that  "all  men  are  created  equal"), 
afterwards  judge  of  the  district  and  circuit  courts  of  the  United  States;  Samuel 
Phillips,  founder  of  Phillips  Andover  Academy;  James  Sullivan,  afterwards 
Attorney-General  and  Governor  of  Massachusetts;  and  others  almost  equally 
distinguished.  All  those  whom  I  have  especially  named,  save  one,  were 
graduates  of  Harvard  College.  Soon  after  its  organization  other  great  names 
were  added  to  its  membership,  —  John  Hancock,  John  Adams,  Fisher  Ames, 
Gen.  Henry  Knox,  Gen.  William  Heath,  Gen.  Artemas  Ward,  all  of  revolu- 
tionary service  and  fame;  Governor  Levi  Lincoln,  Loammi  Baldwin,  Josiah 
Quincy,  George  Cabot  and  Theodore  Lyman.  In  later  years  its  roll  has 
included  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  State, —  governors,  judges,  senators  and 
Congressmen,  scholars  and  men  of  science,  great  merchants,  capitalists  and 
philanthropists.  Its  president  to-day  is  the  renowned  scientist,  Charles  S. 
Sargent;  its  efficient  secretary,  the  accomplished  and  genial  Gen.  Francis 
Henry  Appleton,  for  some  years  a  most  useful  member  of  our  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. Large  sums  of  money  have  from  time  to  time  been  bestowed  upon  it 
in  the  way  of  gifts,  so  that  it  has  enjoyed  unusual  opportunity  to  extend  its 
sphere  of  useful  service.  None  of  its  officers  have  ever  received  any  salary, 
nor  has  the  society  ever  spent  any  money  for  the  entertainment  of  its  members 
or  its  guests.  It  has  contributed  to  the  world  a  noble  example  of  unselfish 
public  service. 

The  art  of  agriculture  was  indeed  at  a  low  ebb  when  the  society  entered  upon 
its  philanthropic  work.  The  real  value  and  proper  use  of  manures  were  largely 
unknown.  We  are  told  that  occasionally  barns  were  removed  from  their  old 
locations  to  get  them  away  from  long-accumulating  heaps  of  dung.  Agri- 
cultural implements  were  rude  and  imperfect.  Crops  were  few  in  variety, 
carelessly  planted,  indifferently  cultivated  and  unintelligently  harvested  and 
housed.  Live  stock,  horses,  cattle  and  sheep,  were  of  inferior  grades,  and 
were  cruelly  neglected  and  uncared  for.  Agricultural  implements  were  of 
ancient  and  ineffective  types.  The  hours  of  labor  were  inordinately  long.  All 
work  seemed  to  be  done  in  the  hardest  way.  The  fitness  of  a  particular  field 
for  a  special  crop  was  quite  a  matter  of  indifference.  The  practice  of  the 
grandfathers  and  early  settlers  still  held  the  New  England  farmer  fast  bound 
to  traditional  and  worn-out  methods.  To  these  deplorable  conditions  the 
new  society  offered  the  light  of  intelligence  and  the  hope  of  improvement. 
But  it  was  slow  work  to  overcome  the  prejudices  and  practices  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  It  was  hard  to  persuade  the  country  farmer  that  he  ought  to 
open  his  eyes  to  the  improved  methods  which  were  beginning  to  appear  in 
Europe.     The  reformers  were  ridiculed  as  "gentlemen  farmers"  and  "book 


6 

men,"  who  were  attempting  changes  quite  unsuited,  it  was  thought,  to  require- 
ments of  the  practical' husbandman.  At  the  end  of  its  first  quarter-century 
President  Lowell  admitted  that  during  its  first  years  the  society  did  not  accom- 
plish much  good;  but  added  that  it  was  not  the  fault  of  its  founders,  for  they 
were  ahead  of  the  public  opinion  of  their  age.  They  had  invited,  with  rather 
unsatisfactory  response,  the  co-operation  of  farmers  by  valuable  series  of  ques- 
tions sent  broadcast  throughout  the  State,  asking  for  information  as  to  existing 
conditions  and  wants  in  rural  communities.  But  indifference  and  ridicule  did 
not  dishearten  these  apostles  of  the  new  era.  They  began  to  talk  about  an 
experimental  farm,  and  thus  created  an  interest  out  of  which  finally  grew  the 
Botanical  Garden  at  Cambridge.  Generous  members  and  their  friends  began 
the  endowment  of  the  society,  and  soon  prizes  began  to  be  offered  for  essays 
and  papers  on  practical  agricultural  subjects.  The  first  one  taken  up  was  that 
of  compost  manures.  The  canker-worm  pest,  the  drainage  of  ponds,  the 
methods  of  maple  sugar  making,  butter  and  cheese  production,  the  proper  care 
and  treatment  of  sheep,  the  cultivation  of  wheat  and  onions,  the  analysis  of 
soils,  the  necessity  of  improved  ploughs,  were  among  the  subjects  urged  upon 
the  attention  of  Massachusetts  farmers  during  the  first  decade  of  the  society's 
history.  An  impression  finally  began  to  be  made.  It  was  at  length  evident 
that  the  organization  was  going  to  justify  its  claim  to  be  considered  an  important 
factor  in  enlarging  and  extending  the  boundaries  of  agricultural  knowledge. 

In  1801  the  society  began  a  series  of  fairs  at  Brighton,  where  it  finally  pur- 
chased land  and  erected  an  agricultural  hall  for  the  uses  of  its  annual  gather- 
ings. These  were  kept  up  until  after  1830.  Following  its  example,  agricul- 
tural societies  quickly  sprang  up  all  over  the  State,  until  the  "fall  cattle  show" 
became  one  of  the  recognized  features  of  New  England  life,  —  a  kind  of  organi- 
zation which  shortly  after  1850  led  up  to  the  establishment  by  our  Legislature 
of  our  excellent  Board  of  Agriculture,  to  the  influence  and  aid  of  which,  through 
its  intelligent  and  progressive  membership,  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College  owes  so  much.  Without  its  loyal  support  the  college  could  hardly 
have  weathered  the  stormy  period  of  legislative  criticism  and  hostility  through 
which  the  institution  passed  during  the  later  period  of  President  Clark's  ad- 
ministration and  that  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Stockbridge.  Its  forty  members 
constitute  a  most  powerful  and  effective  influence  at  the  State  House  when 
they  unite  upon  or  against  any  proposed  legislation  which  vitally  affects  our 
agricultural  communities. 

In  1813  the  society  had  accumulated,  from  gifts,  a  permanent  fund  of  $20,000; 
and  the  following  year  the  Legislature  made  it  "a  liberal  grant"  of  $1,000 
annually  from  the  State  treasury,  for  circulating  its  publications,  for  conducting 
experiments  and  for  the  other  useful  purposes  which  it  was  endeavoring  to 
promote.  The  same  year  began  the  publication  of  its  semiannual  serial, 
"The  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Journal,"  which  was  succeeded  years  later 
by  "The  New  England  Farmer"  as  its  semiofficial  organ.  Thus  at  length 
came  the  era  of  agricultural  newspapers,  the  educational  features  of  which 
to-day  constitute  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  progress  of  Massachusetts 
agriculture. 


As  early  as  1824  the  society  was  asked  by  the  trustees  of  "Dummer  Academy 
at  Byfield,  in  old  Newbury,  to  join  them  in  conducting  an  experimental  farm 
on  the  extensive  lands  of  that  ancient  school.  The  trustees  of  the  society 
heartily  approved  the  movement,  but  declined  the  proposal  because  they  thought 
such  an  enterprise  ought  to  be  controlled  and  cared  for  by  the  State  rather  than 
by  a  private  corporation.  In  this  proposal  we  distinctly  discover  the  germs 
of  our  modern  agricultural  educational  system. 

In  the  evolution  of  the  modern  plough,  which  seems  to  be  the  outgrowth  of 
.Jefferson's  early  invention,  this  society  took  a  leading  part.  Its  annual  plough- 
ing matches  at  Brighton  had  in  view  not  so  much  to  test  the  skill  of  the  plough- 
man as  to  discover  the  best  and  most  effective  instrument.  Its  liberal  premiums 
in  this  department  did  much  to  encourage  manufacturers  of  agricultural  im- 
plements in  perfecting  this  most  indispensable  and  important  servant  of  the 
practical  farmer. 

Early  in  its  history  the  society  had  turned  its  attention  to  animal  husbandry. 
By  liberal  premiums  bestowed  at  its  own  and  county  cattle  shows  it  had  en- 
couraged the  importation  of  foreign  breeds  by  individuals;  and  by  its  own 
importations  from  time  to  time  had  encouraged  the  practice.  In  this  way, 
beginning  with  the  year  1816,  have  been  brought  from  abroad,  partly  by 
private  enterprise,  but  largely  with  funds  furnished  by  the  society,  of  horned 
stock,  Alderneys  and  Ayrshires,  Devons,  Flanders,  Holderness  and  Portuguese 
cattle;  Short  Horns,  Herefords,  Holsteins,  Guernseys  and  other  valued  strains; 
Leicester,  Arabian  and  Russian  sheep  and  many  other  valuable  kinds  from 
Great  Britain  and  elsewhere;  shapely  swine,  fitted  to  replace  our  long,  lean, 
lank  and  limber  native  stock;  and  horses  of  superior  quality,  notably  the  huge 
Percherons,  which  have  proved  of  great  value  in  improving  the  race  of  farm 
and  team  horses.  This  service  has  been  rendered  at  large  expense;  for  these 
imported  animals  after  having  been  kept  for  considerable  periods  for  public 
use,  have  been  finally  sold  much  below  their  cost,  and  thus  distributed  through- 
out the  State  among  farmers  and  others  interested  in  improving  our  lines  of 
stock. 

In  1836  the  society  joined  in  a  movement  to  secure  what  was  called  an  agri- 
cultural survey  of  the  State,  which  led  to  the  appointment  of  Rev.  Henry 
Colman  of  Deerfield,  of  whom  I  shall  speak  later,  a  well-known  agricultural 
expert,  for  this  service.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  much  good  work  has 
been  done  by  the  clergy  in  the  uplift  of  agricultural  interests.  Many  of  you 
will  recall  in  this  connection  the  admirable  paper  prepared,  and  many  times 
read  before  interested  audiences,  by  our  lamented  Goodell,  entitled  "The 
Influence  of  the  Monks  in  Agriculture."  It  was  a  piece  of  original  work  that 
deservedly  received  the  highest  praise,  and  ought  to  be  permanently  preserved 
in  print. 

The  introduction  and  improvement  of  the  mowing  machine  engaged  the 
special  attention  of  the  society  in  the  fifties;  the  importation  of  English  har- 
rows, a  study  of  the  ravages  of  the  potato  bug,  the  planting  of  forest  trees, 
helpful  service  rendered  to  the  Bussey  Institute  in  its  beginnings  and  to  this 
young  and  ambitious  college  in  its  early  days,  were  among  some  of  the  im- 


8 


portant  services  rendered  in  the  seventies.  I  note  an  interesting  fact,  that  once 
it  made  a  donation  of  $200  to*  an  ingenious  Agricultural  College  student,  to 
aid  him  in  perfecting  a  steam  plough  of  his  own  invention.  The  sequel  I  have 
not  discovered.     Who  will  write  the  obituary  of  that  steam  plough? 

But  time  fails  me  to  recount  all  the  great  services  rendered  by  this  ancient 
society  to  the  cause  of  agriculture,  and  the  inspiration  it  has  given  to  the  cause 
of  agricultural  education.  As  friends  of  the  college  we  desire  to-day  to  recog- 
nize with  especial  gratitude,  by  this  somewhat  extended  notice,  the  profoundly 
important  influence,  partly  active,  partly  indirect  and  incidental,  exerted  by 
it  from  first  to  last  in  helping  to  lay  on  sound  and  permanent  foundations  the 
Massachusetts  system  of  agricultural  education.  The  analogy  between  its 
exertions  and  the  later  and  broader  work  of  our  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture,  which  has  now  grown  to  be  one  of  the  great  universities  of  the 
world,  can  hardly  have  escaped  your  attention,  as  I  have  imperfectly  sketched 
the  achievements  and  influence  of  this  beneficent  organization. 

In  1820  Andrew  Nichols,  at  the  first  show  of  the  Essex  Society  referred  to 
the  fact  that  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  of  New  York  State  had  recently  de- 
clared himself  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  agricultural  schools  for  the 
purpose  of  improving  the  art  of  husbandry,  and  himself  expressed  the  belief 
that  established  agricultural  academies,  well  endowed  and  managed,  would 
prove  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  the  State.  Fourteen  years  later  we  find  Mr. 
Mosely  urging  similar  news  before  the  same  society,  claiming  for  agricultural 
education  equal  rank  with  establishments  for  military  and  naval  training.  A 
serious  attempt  was  made  in  1824,  aided  by  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture,  to  create  at  Dummer  Academy  an  agricultural  depart- 
ment; but  the  aid  sought  from  the  Legislature  to  enable  the  institution  to 
launch  the  scheme  was  withheld.  Colman,  in  one  of  his  reports  made  in  the 
early  forties,  refers  to  a  similar  attempt  to  locate  an  agricultural  school  at 
Beverly,  where  land  had  been  already  bought  for  the  purpose.  In  1840,  at 
the  Teachers'  Seminary  on  Andover  hill,  which  had  then  existed  some  ten 
years,  a  course  in  scientific  and  practical  agriculture  was  announced,  and  the 
teacher  of  mathematics  was  entrusted  with  its  care.  This  institution  was  soon 
merged  with  the  scientific  department  of  Phillips  Academy,  where  all  agri- 
cultural features  were  soon  lost  except  the  farm,  which  I  believe  is  still  a  part 
of  the  academy  property,  and  is  devoted  to  golf  links.  Westfield  Academy 
had  a  legacy  of  $5,000  from  Stephen  Harrison  in  1856,  which  was  to  become 
available  when  the  additional  sum  of  $5,000  could  be  secured.  This  bene- 
factor was  evidently  the  precursor  of  Mr.  Pearson  of  Chicago,  who  has  so 
effectively  used  this  plan  of  giving  to  colleges  in  our  own  day  on  the  offer,  "So 
much  from  me,  if  others  will  contribute  an  equal  amount."  I  am  unable  to 
tell  you  what  results  followed  this  Harrison  bequest.  Powers  Institute  of 
Bernardston  just  before  1860  was  conducting  a  course  in  agriculture,  and  vainly 
asked  aid  from  the  Legislature  for  the  purpose  of  expanding  the  work.  Our 
General  Court  generally  has  been  shy  about  affording  aid  to  academies.  In 
1842  Benjamin  Bussey  died,  leaving  a  large  foundation,  not  then  immediately 
available,  for  the  establishment  of  the  Bussey  Institute  of  Agriculture.     Our 


college  was  at  the  outset  in  danger  of  becoming  merged  with  it,  in  which  case 
we  should  probably  have  been  to-day  an  adjunct  of  Harvard  University. 

One  of  the  most  eccentric  of  wills  was  that  of  the  late  Oliver  Smith  of  Hat- 
field in  our  own  county  of  Hampshire.  My  characterization  of  the  instrument 
would,  however,  convey  a  wrong  impression  if  I  did  not  add  that  it  established 
a  number  of  very  original  and  noble  trusts.  It  created  the  institution  we  call 
the  "Smith  Charities,"  and  is  a  blessing  to  the  inhabitants  of  eight  of  these 
river  towns, —  five  in  Hampshire  and  three  in  Franklin.  Mr.  Smith  was  a 
bachelor  farmer,  called  wealthy  in  those  days,  though  he  left  what  would  be 
nowadays  only  a  competency,  —  hardly  enough  to  pay  the  necessary,  or  rather 
unnecessary,  expenses  of  a  modern  millionaire  for  a  single  year.  He  had  lived 
a  frugal  and  thrifty  life,  and  had  grown  legitimately  forehanded  by  letting  out 
money  at  interest.  He  had  mastered  the  problem  of  "the  accumulating  fund." 
And  so  the  charities  he  created  were,  to  a  large  extent,  to  become  available  long 
years  in  the  future.  The  will  was  made  in  1844.  Mr.  Smith  died  in  1845. 
Then  ensued  a  notable  contest,  in  which  some  of  his  heirs  attempted  to  set  the 
will  aside  on  the  ground  of  the  insanity  of  one  of  the  attesting  witnesses.  Chief 
Justice  Shaw,  the  greatest  of  Massachusetts  jurists,  presided  at  the  trial; 
Samuel  Williston  of  Easthampton  was  foreman  of  the  jury;  Daniel  Webster 
and  Rufus  Choate  were  counsel  for  the  executors  and  the  contestants  respec- 
tively. The  trial  took  place  in  the  old  court  house  in  Northampton.  Mr. 
Choate  urged  the  case  against  the  will  a  large  part  of  one  entire  day;  Mr. 
Webster  spoke  only  twenty  minutes.  The  instrument  was  sustained  by  the 
jury,  and  the  full  bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  confirmed  their  finding. 
Undoubtedly  it  was  his  service  as  juryman  in  this  case  which  suggested  to 
Mr.  Williston  some  provisions  of  his  own  will,  made  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  later,  wherein  the  same  feature  of  large  "accumulating  funds"  for  edu- 
cational purposes  appears  in  the  liberal  provision  made  for  Williston  Seminary. 
Mr.  Smith's  foundation  provided  that  the  sum  of  $200,000  was  to  be  held  by 
the  trustees  until  it  had  doubled;  then  the  fund  was  to  be  divided  into  three 
portions, —  $30,000  for  an  agricultural  college  at  Northampton;  $10,000  for 
the  American  Colonization  Society;  $360,000,  to  be  called  the  joint  or  miscel- 
laneous fund,  for  the  benefit  of  indigent  boys,  indigent  female  children,  indigent 
young  women  and  indigent  widows  of  the  eight  towns  before  referred  to.  The 
residue  of  the  estate  went  to  a  contingent  fund,  by  ingenious  provisions  in- 
tended to  secure  and  enlarge  the  miscellaneous  fund.  The  $30,000  agricul- 
tural fund  the  trustees  were  to  continue  to  hold  until  the  expiration  of  sixty 
years  from  the  testator's  death,  and  then  to  pay  it  over  to  the  town  of  North- 
ampton for  the  establishment  in  that  town  of  "Smith's  Agricultural  College." 
This  fund  became  available,  under  the  terms  of  the  will,  in  1905.  Lands  have 
been  purchased  and  plans  are  maturing  for  the  erection  of  buildings  for  the 
instruction  of  boys  in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts.  I  have  gone  into 
considerable  detail  in  dealing  with  Mr.  Smith's  will,  because  this  college  is 
vitally  interested  in  the  success  of  the  Northampton  institution.  Each  should 
be  helpful  to  the  other,  and  somehow  the  work  of  each  should  be  made  to 
strengthen  and  supplement  the  work  of  the  other.     The  field  is  wide  enough 


10 

for  both.  It  is  quite  likely  that  if  Mr.  Smith  had  lived  twenty-five  years  longer 
the  provisions  of  his  will  might  have  been  somewhat  modified  to  suit  later  con- 
ditions. But  a  testator  has  a  right  under  the  law  to  legislate  as  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  his  estate  after  his  death,  and  his  will  ought  to  be  executed  as  written, 
except  as  to  such  provisions  as  are  unlawful  or  contrary  to  public  policy.  No 
such  flaws  are  to  be  found  in  the  will  of  this  shrewd  Yankee  yeoman;  so  that 
on  this  festal  day  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  sends  its  hearty 
greetings  and  best  wishes  to  its  neighbor  and  colleague  beyond  the  meadows 
and  the  river.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  worth  noting  here,  that  Miss  Sophia 
Smith,  founder  of  Smith  Academy  at  Hatfield  and  of  Smith  College  at  North- 
ampton, was  a  kinswoman  of  Oliver,  and  actuated  by  similar  benevolent 
motives. 

Another  educating  influence  along  agricultural  lines  was  the  work  done  by 
Rev.  Henry  Colman  of  Deerfield.  He  was  an  accomplished  preacher  of  the 
Unitarian  denomination,  with  whom  agriculture  was  a  delight  and  passion. 
He  was  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1805,  in  the  same  class  with 
Francis  Brown,  whose  presidency  of  that  institution  included  the  period  when 
the  celebrated  Dartmouth  College  case  was  passing  through  its  various  stages, 
and  in  which  Daniel  Webster,  a  loyal  son  of  the  college,  won  his  greatest  pro- 
fessional triumph  before  the  greatest  of  the  chief  justices  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  After  leading  the  life  of  a  teacher  and  preacher  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  Mr.  Colman  was  commissioned  by  our  General  Court  in 
1837  to  make  a  complete  agricultural  survey  of  the  State,  and  to  report  results 
to  the  Legislature.  These  reports,  four  or  five  in  number,  cover  a  period  from 
1837  to  1841,  when  his  work  was  discontinued,  for  reasons  not  fully  explained. 
The  survey  included  the  counties  of  Essex,  Middlesex,  Berkshire  and  Franklin, 
and  are  full  of  interest,  even  now.  They  indicate  great  intelligence  and  skill 
in  investigation,  are  models  in  style,  and  will  repay  examination  by  the  ambi- 
tious student  of  to-day.  They  may  be  found,  I  believe,  in  our  excellent  library. 
Mr.  Coleman  travelled  extensively  in  Europe  upon  this  business,  where  he 
received  great  attention  from  many  distinguished  men,  and  became  socially 
popular,  being  of  fascinating  person  and  deportment.  He  died  suddenly  in 
London  in  1849.  He  too  was  an  apostle  of  agricultural  education,  and  with 
untiring  zeal  urged  its  extension.  In  summing  up  the  most  notable  influences 
which  contributed  to  the  growth  of  public  sentiment  among  our  people  on  this 
subject  from  1820  to  1860,  his  name  deserves  a  prominent  place. 

After  1840  the  interest  in  the  subject  of  agricultural  education  was  greatly 
heightened.  Everywhere,  at  county  fairs,  in  the  people's  lyceums,  and  by  re- 
peated petitions  to  the  Legislature,  the  matter  was  kept  constantly  before  the 
people.  A  notable  utterance  was  contained  in  Governor  Briggs's  inaugural 
address  of  1850,  out  of  which  grew  the  resolves  of  that  year  looking  to  the 
establishment  of  an  agricultural  school  in  Massachusetts.  The  appointment 
of  commissioners  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  subject,  among  whom  were 
Mr.  Wilder  and  the  elder  Edward  Hitchcock  of  Amherst  College,  followed, 
but  the  effort  proved  unsuccessful.  I  omit  anything  more  than  a  reference 
to  that  college  and  Dr.  Hitchcock's  work,  because  that  subject  is  to  be  treated 
at  some  length  by  my  friend  Mr.  Bowker,  who  is  to  follow  me. 


11 

More  than  to  any  other  man  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Marshall  P.  Wilder, 
whose  name  stood  at  the  head  of  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  of  this  college,  and 
who  was,  from  the  time  of  its  organization  to  the  day  of  his  death,  always  the 
staunch  and  tried  friend  of  the  institution.  As  far  back  as  1849,  in  an  address 
before  one  of  our  agricultural  societies  he  strongly  advocated  the  establishment 
of  schools  where  theoretical  and  practical  agriculture  should  be  taught. 

In  1856  was  incorporated  the  Massachusetts  School  of  Agriculture,  Mr. 
Wilder  again  heading  the  Board  of  Trustees.  In  1860  the  charter  of  this  cor- 
poration was  transferred  to  several  citizens  of  Springfield,  who  undertook  to 
raise  $75,000  to  carry  out  its  objects,  expecting  to  receive  from  the  Legislature 
further  endowment;  but  the  civil  war  interfered  with  their  plans,  and  the  effort 
proved  abortive. 

It  was  under  the  stimulus  of  these  various  institutions  for  better  farming  and 
better  education  therein  that  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  came  into  exist- 
ence, by  act  of  the  Legislature,  shortly  after  1850.  It  was  composed  of  three 
delegates  from  each  of  the  incorporated  societies  in  the  Commonwealth,  and 
has  always  constituted  an  influential  body  of  citizens.  Its  objects  were  stated 
to  be  "the  encouragement  of  agricultural  education  and  the  improvement  of 
agriculture  in  all  its  departments  in  this  Commonwealth."  There  has  been 
a  very  close  connection  between  that  institution  and  this  from  the  time  of  our 
foundation  to  this  moment,  and  it  ought  to  be  said  that  the  Board  has  always 
been  a  staunch  friend  and  supporter  of  the  college. 

It  was  a  strange  circumstance  that,  after  all  the  efforts  made  to  secure  action 
by  our  own  Legislature  for  the  establishment  of  an  agricultural  college,  the 
institution  at  last  came  to  the  State  as  a  benefaction  of  the  general  government. 
Senator  Justin  T.  Morrill  of  Vermont —  a  name  always  to  be  spoken  in  honor 
by  men  of  our  faith —  had  been  for  years  urging  the  distribution  of  large  por- 
tions of  the  public  domain  among  the  States  for  purposes  of  education  in  agri- 
culture and  the  mechanic  arts.  During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan 
his  efforts  were  partially  successful.  Congress  indeed  passed  the  act,  but 
the  bill  was  vetoed  by  the  President.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  more  friendly  to  the 
movement;  Congress  re-enacted  the  bill,  the  President  set  his  approval  upon 
it,  and  it  became  a  law  July  2,  1862.  This  was  the  beneficent  Morrill  act, 
under  which  sixty-five  colleges  have  come  into  being  in  the  United  States.  The 
sums  bestowed  upon  the  respective  States  were  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
senators  and  representatives.  Thus  Massachusetts  ultimately  received  about 
$360,000.  Under  the  law,  one-tenth  could  be  used  for  purchase  of  land,  none 
of  it  for  buildings.  The  States  were  required,  through  their  Legislatures,  to 
accept  the  benefits  of  the  act  within  two  years  from  its  passage,  and  to  provide 
within  five  years  thereafter  not  less  than  one  college,  or  the  grant  to  the  State 
should  cease.  It  is  well  known  that  through  the  agency  of  its  influential  friends 
the  Institute  of  Technology  secured  the  income  of  one-third  of  the  $360,000, 
and  thus  was  satisfied  the  requirement  for  a  school  of  mechanic  arts,  leaving  an 
opportunity  here  for  a  separate  agricultural  college,  —  the  only  one  of  its  class 
in  the  United  States. 

Governor  Andrew's  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1863  was  a  noble  plea  for 
the  acceptance  of  the  gift;   but  his  plan  was  to  unite  the  agricultural  features 


12 


of  the  gift  with  Bussey  Institute,  thus  making  the  Agricultural  College  a  depart- 
ment of  Harvard  University.  The  committee  to  whom  the  Governor's  recom- 
mendations were  referred  discussed  the  whole  subject  with  great  ability,  com- 
ing, I  believe,  to  a  unanimous  conclusion  that  there  was  actual  demand  for  a 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  and  that  it  should  be  wholly  disconnected 
with  all  existing  institutions  and  separate  from  all  large  cities  and  towns;  that 
it  should  recognize  the  principle  of  daily  manual  labor  by  its  students  as  essen- 
tial to  success;  and  that  the  necessary  funds  for  the  founding  of  the  institution 
should  be  contributed  equally  by  the  State  and  individuals.  The  Legislature 
adopted  the  conclusions  of  the  committee;  voted  that  the  Congressional  grant 
should  be  received,  and  the  conditions  faithfully  complied  with;  and  that  the 
fund  should  be  divided,  in  the  proportion  heretofore  mentioned,  between  the 
college  and  the  Institute  of  Technology.  Later  in  the  year  the  Board  of  College 
Trustees  was  incorporated,  Mr.  Wilder,  of  course,  leading  the  list.  The  insti- 
tution at  the  outset  encountered  considerable  opposition,  which  was  aggravated 
by  the  jealousy  of  rival  towns  who  wished  to  secure  its  location  within  their 
own  borders.  The  site  and  course  of  study  were  at  first  made  subject  to  the 
action  of  the  Legislature,  but  afterwards  the  decision  of  these  important  points 
was  more  wisely  committed  to  the  Board  of  Trustees.  It  was  made  a  condition 
of  the  location  that  the  municipality  which  received  it  should  contribute  $75,000 
toward  purchase  of  land  and  the  erection  of  buildings.  I  remember  very  well, 
though  I  was  not  then  a  resident  of  the  town,  the  great  excitement  which  pre- 
vailed here  over  the  question  of  securing  the  college.  Seven  cities  are  said  to 
have  contended  for  the  honor  of  being  considered  Homer's  birthplace;  just 
about  the  same  number  of  towns  wrestled  together  for  the  Agricultural  College. 
Springfield  wanted  it,  so  did  Stockbridge,  Northampton,  Williamstown  and 
Lexington,  Harvard  College  and  Jamaica  Plain  with  its  Bussey  Institute, 
besides  Amherst;  and  I  presume  there  were  other  aspirants, —  the  returns 
are  not  complete.  I  do  not  believe  there  was  a  town  in  Massachusetts  in  1863 
that  would  not  have  jumped  at  the  chance,  if  it  could  have  found  the  way  to 
put  up  the  forfeit. 

And  now  appears  upon  the  scene  that  dashing  and  picturesque  figure,  Col. 
William  S.  Clark.  He  had  left  his  professorship  of  chemistry  at  Amherst 
College  at  the  opening  of  the  civil  war  to  go  forth  as  major  of  the  Twenty-first 
Massachusetts  Regiment.  He  soon  became  its  colonel,  and  gallantly  led  his 
command  in  some  of  the  hardest  fighting  up  to  the  end  of  1862.  It  was  under- 
stood that  he  was  booked  for  a  brigadier-generalship,  and  this  he  would  have 
had  but  for  General  Reno's  untimely  fall  at  South  Mountain.  In  February, 
1863,  he  was  at  home  on  a  furlough,  when  the  question  of  the  acceptance  of 
the  provisions  of  the  Morrill  act  was  about  to  come  up  for  action  at  the  State 
House.  I  have  always  supposed  that  the  resignation  of  his  commission  by 
Colonel  Clark  shortly  after  had  some  connection  with  his  deep  interest  in  the 
establishment  of  the  new  college.  At  any  rate,  he  was  out  of  the  army  in  May, 
1863,  and  from  that  moment  was  instant,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in  secur- 
ing the  Agricultural  College  for  Massachusetts,  and  afterwards  for  Amherst. 
Marshall  P.  Wilder,  Dr.  George  B.  Loring,  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  as 


13 

a  body,  and  almost  the  entire  citizenship  of  this  town,  were  his  able  coadjutors. 
In  the  fall  of  1863  he  was  elected  representative  from  Amherst  to  the  General 
Court,  serving  both  in  1864  and  1865,  and  again,  I  believe,  in  1867.  It  was  a 
long  and  laborious  task  that  he  set  himself,  but  in  the  end  he  won  out  at  every 
point.  He  was  made  chairman  of  the  House  committee  on  agriculture  the 
first  year,  and  I  assure  you  he  magnified  his  office.  Under  his  guidance,  Gov- 
ernor Andrew's  proposed  Bussey  Institute-Agricultural  College  combination 
was  broken  up ;  and  it  was  no  easy  thing  for  any  man  or  association  of  men  to 
persuade  the  Legislature  in  1863  to  overrule  any  recommendation  of  our  great- 
hearted war  governor.  The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  made  a 
claim  for  one-half  the  income  of  the  Congressional  fund,  thus  offering  to  satisfy 
the  mechanic  arts  provision  of  the  Morrill  bill,  and  leaving  the  other  half  for 
the  maintenance  of  an  agricultural  college  pure  and  simple.  There  was  a  great 
struggle  on  this  point,  and  the  matter  was  finally  compromised  by  giving  the 
institute  one-third  the  income,  leaving  the  remaining  two-thirds  to  the  proposed 
agricultural  college.  Into  the  bill  of  acceptance  was  slipped  the  provision  by 
some  interested  friend  of  the  Connecticut  valley —  and  we  can  safely  guess 
who  he  was —  that  the  new  institution  should  be  located  in  the  interior  part 
of  the  State. 

The  act  of  acceptance  of  the  national  benefaction  on  the  conditions  named, 
passed  April  18,  1863,  was  unequivocal  in  its  terms,  and  pledged  the  State  to 
a  faithful  administration  of  the  trust  it  assumed,  and  to  watchful  care  for  the 
wants  of  the  college.  It  was  hardly  to  the  credit  of  a  few  opponents  of  this 
institution  that  they  made  a  serious  attempt,  sixteen  years  later,  to  lead  the 
old  Commonwealth  into  a  practical  repudiation  of  its  obligations  toward  the 
child  of  its  own  adoption,  and  to  annul  its  solemn  contract  with  the  general 
government.  This  was  an  attempt  which  greatly  alarmed  the  friends  of  the 
college.  Happily  it  was  triumphantly  defeated,  and  the  college  became  more 
firmly  anchored  than  ever  in  the  good-will  of  its  constituents.  In  connection 
with  this  deliverance  the  college  ought  never  to  forget  the  inestimable  service 
rendered  the  institution  by  that  effective  body,  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture, 
led  by  its  accomplished  secretary,  Mr.  Flint. 

Our  act  of  incorporation  bears  date  April  29,  1863.  Mr.  Wilder's  name, 
of  course,  led  the  list  of  trustees,  one-half  of  whom  were  members  of  the  Board 
of  Agriculture.  The  location  of  the  college  and  course  of  study,  originally 
vested  in  the  Legislature,  were  afterwards  very  properly  transferred  to  the 
trustees,  subject  to  ratification  by  the  Governor  and  Council.  Seventy-five 
thousand  dollars  was  the  amount  of  "graft"  which  the  State  claimed  from 
the  lucky  town  that  might  draw  the  prize  of  a  college,  which  sum  was  intended 
to  constitute  a  building  fund  for  setting  the  new  college  in  operation. 

The  fight  for  the  location,  and  the  raising  of  the  requisite  grant,  were  now 
on  the  carpet.  The  Legislature  had  just  convened  in  January,  1864.  Colonel 
Clark  was  there  and  everywhere.  On  the  25th  of  January  a  town  meeting  was 
held  in  Amherst,  to  see  if  the  town  would  vote  any  sum  of  money  to  secure 
the  location  of  the  college  here,  and  also  to  see  if  it  would  petition  the  Legisla- 
ture to  authorize  it  to  create  a  bonded  debt  to  raise  the  necessary  funds.     One 


14 


hundred  voters  were  present.  Urgent  speeches  in  favor  of  the  measure  were 
made  by  Colonel  Clark;  Edward  Dickinson,  treasurer  of  Amherst  College, 
our  most  dignified  citizen;  Col.  Ithamar  F.  Conkey,  the  brilliant  advocate; 
and  Luke  Sweetzer,  our  leading  merchant.  Only  the  voice  of  Albion  P.  Howe, 
"mine  host"  of  the  Amherst  House,  was  heard  in  remonstrance;  and  that 
only  against  the  proposed  bonded  debt,  for  he  needed  the  college  more  than 
any  one  else  in  town.  The  final  vote  stood  79  to  7  in  favor  of  asking  authority 
to  bond  the  town  in  the  sum  of  $50,000;  but  the  Legislature  of  that  year,  after 
a  terrific  struggle  in  the  House,  declined  to  allow  the  town  thus  to  burden  itself. 
It  was  argued  that  this  would  be  establishing  a  dangerous  precedent,  though 
there  had  been  repeated  similar  enabling  acts  in  aid  of  railroad  schemes,  notably 
in  the  case  of  the  Troy  &  Boston  or  Hoosac  Tunnel  line.  It  was  further  urged 
in  opposition  that  the  movement  was  in  utter  disregard  of  the  solemn  rights  of 
Amherst  taxpayers,  and  would  be  an  especially  cruel  sacrifice  of  the  rights  of 
women  owning  taxable  property.  And  so  Colonel  Clark  stirred  up  446  tax- 
payers and  voters —  almost  every  male  taxpayer  in  Amherst —  to  send  in  a 
monstrous  petition  to  have  their  "rights  invaded"  for  this  object.  In  addition 
to  this,  Mrs.  E.  P.  Hannum  and  26  other  widows  of  the  town  also  prayed  like- 
wise, and  Nancy  Wait  and  8  other  maidens  in  a  separate  petition  said  "Amen." 
The  introduction  of  the  widows'  petition  in  the  House  of  Representatives  pro- 
voked sarcastic  reference  to  Sam  Weller's  estimate  of  that  interesting  class; 
and  one  facetious  member  proposed  advertising  a  vendue,  putting  the  college 
up  at  auction,  and  knocking  it  off  to  the  highest  bidder.  Colonel  Clark's  ad- 
vocacy of  the  measure  on  the  floor  of  the  House  was  brilliant  in  the  extreme. 
His  chief  opponent,  Erastus  Hopkins  of  Northampton,  was  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary force  and  eloquence,  always  a  resourceful  and  dangerous  antagonist.  The 
real  opposition  came  from  a  union  of  rival  towns  in  the  strife  over  the  location. 
Every  one  was  determined  to  throw  down  all  the  others,  and  so  the  cause  of 
Amherst  and  its  proposed  $50,000  bonded  debt  went  down  to  temporary  de- 
feat.    Such  is  log-rolling. 

But  the  friends  of  the  college  in  this  vicinity  were  not  discouraged,  and  they 
undertook  the  Herculean  task  of  getting  together  the  sum  of  $75,000  by  vol- 
untary subscriptions,  for  that  was  the  amount  required  by  the  Legislature,  to 
be  raised  by  subscription  or  otherwise,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  buildings. 
Exactly  how  this  was  done,  no  man  can  tell.  Pledges  of  $50,000  seem  to  have 
been  extorted  from  the  taxpayers  of  Amherst,  somewhat  in  proportion  to  their 
taxable  ability.  How  and  where  Colonel  Clark  obtained  subscriptions  for  the 
remaining  $25,000  is  not  clearly  disclosed.  Records  at  the  State  House,  which 
have  been  gathered  for  me  by  that  indefatigable  worker,  Mr.  Fowler,  librarian 
of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  author  of  "The  History  of  Early  Agricultural 
Education  in  Massachusetts,"  to  which  work  I  am  much  indebted  in  this  paper, 
show  that  $5,000  of  it  came  from  William  Kellogg  of  this  town  and  $10,000  from 
the  benevolent  manufacturer  of  Easthampton,  Samuel  Williston.  If  Mr.  Dur- 
fee's  gift  of  the  plant  house  be  counted  as  a  subscription,  that  completes  the 
requisite  $25,000,  leaving  $50,000  to  be  subscribed  for  by  the  taxpayers  of 
Amherst. 


15 

Now  began  one  of  the  fiercest  campaigns  ever  waged.     On  the  11th  of  April, 

1864,  the  citizens  of  the  town  were  called  together  at  Agricultural  Hall  (not 
in  a  legal  town  meeting,  however),  to  consult  in  reference  to  the  location  of  the 
Agricultural  College  here.  In  the  notice  appears  the  significant  announcement, 
"Colonel  Clark  is  expected  to  be  present."  He  was  present.  Committees 
were  appointed  to  canvass  all  parts  of  the  town,  soliciting  voluntary  subscrip- 
tions. Meetings,  or  rather  rallies,  were  held  at  the  Center,  the  East  Street,  and 
at  the  "ends  of  the  town."  The  community  was  financially  raked,  as  with 
a  fine-tooth  comb.  Men  and  women  subscribed,  and  had  to  subscribe  over 
again.  Henry  Cobb  generously  offered  to  double  his  subscription,  and  to  pay 
$500  for  others  who  could  not  afford  it.  At  length  the  subscription  of  $50,000 
was  full,  but  I  presume  there  was  not  a  signer  who  expected  ever  to  be  called 
upon  to  pay;  and  so  in  fact  it  turned  out,  for  not  one  of  them  ever  was  asked 
for  the  money.  Poor  Mr.  Williston  of  Easthampton  had  to  pay  his  $10,000, 
but  his  town  got  no  college. 

Other  towns  than  Amherst  had  also  subscribed  like  sums  to  secure  the  col- 
lege, so  that  the  trustees  were  now  faced  with  the  question  of  its  particular 
location.     They  visited  several  places  on  this  business,  coming  here  in  August, 

1865,  viewing  this  spot,  and  also  the  elevated  ridge  just  below  the  town  now 
called  Mt.  Doma, —  the  locality  where  the  new  observatory  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege now  stands,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  southwest  of  President  Harris's 
house.  But  right  here  was  evidently  the  spot  upon  which  Colonel  Clark's  heart 
was  set,  for  he  led  the  Board  over  these  farms  of  Dick  Cowls  and  Chester  Cowls 
and  those  of  their  neighbors,  shovelling  and  digging  into  the  earth,  and  showing 
the  remarkable  variety  of  soils  here  available  for  study  and  use  in  experimental 
work.  The  conclusion  of  the  trustees  was  reached  early  in  the  following  month 
of  September  (1864),  when  by  formal  action  they  located  the  college  on  this 
spot,  with  its  four  or  five  farms,  a  total  "area  which  was  finally  brought  up  to 
some  375  acres.  In  November,  1864,  the  Governor  and  Council  confirmed  the 
action,  and  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  at  Amherst  became  an 
actuality.  The  opposition  from  Lexington,  Springfield,  Northampton  and 
Berkshire  County  was  carried  even  into  the  Council  Chamber,  where  hearings 
were  had,  the  mutterings  of  disappointment  lasting  months  and  even  years 
longer. 

But  the  great  and  final  contest  was  yet  to  come.  In  1865  Colonel  Clark  was 
returned  to  the  House  with  practical  unanimity,  where  he  was  to  crown  his 
efforts  by  one  supreme  accomplishment.  Everybody  recognized  that  to  en- 
force payment  of  the  subscriptions  in  a  town  altogether  destitute  of  rich  men 
would  be  a  public  calamity.  The  subscribers  had  taken  an  awful  risk;  and 
now  their  cry  of  anguish  was,  "Bind  us;   bond  us;   give  us  an  enabling  act." 

Governor  Andrew's  annual  message  of  1865  recounted  the  failure  of  his 
Bussey  Institute  plans,  but  generously  promised  his  support  to  the  college  in 
its  new  location.  He  deemed  it  his  duty,  he  said,  to  co-operate  in  giving  vitality 
and  efficient  action  to  the  plans  of  the  trustees.  He  declared  Amherst,  of  all 
places  offered  and  possible,  justly  to  be  preferred,  and  commended  the  new 
college  to  the  liberal  care  of  the  Legislature.     He  spoke  of  science  as  the  in- 


16 

spiring  leader  of  constantly  advancing  ideas,  and  made  a  noble  plea  for  ideal 
excellence,  foreseeing  the  time  when  "Husbandry,  attended  by  all  the  minis- 
ters of  science  and  art,  would  illuminate  and  rejuvenate  the  face  of  the  world 
and  re-create  our  life  below."  In  commenting  upon  this  address,  the  Agri- 
cultural Department  at  Washington  said,  in  its  monthly  report  for  January, 
1865:  "  Of  all  the  official  notices  made  by  the  executives  of  different  States  .  .  . 
in  reference  to  the  establishment  of  the  land  grant  colleges,  we  admire  and 
approve  most  that  of  Governor  Andrew  of  Massachusetts,  abounding,  as  it 
does,  in  sympathy  for  the  industrial  classes,  and  in  a  just  perception  of  their 
real  wants." 

Early  in  the  session  the  application  of  the  town  for  authority  to  tax  itself 
$50,000  as  a  donation  to  the  Agricultural  College  came  on  for  hearing.  Mr. 
Hopkins  of  Northampton  again  appeared  in  remonstrance,  accompanied  by  a 
prominent  farmer  of  Amherst.  His  chief  argument  was  the  dangerous  prece- 
dent. Colonel  Clark  met  this  by  reading  a  resolve  introduced  into  the  previous 
Legislature  by  Mr.  Hopkins  himself,  donating  $100,000  to  the  sufferers  of 
eastern  Tennessee.  He  also  showed  that  the  Amherst  farmer  remonstrant 
had  strenuously  opposed  the  establishment  of  a  high  school  some  years  before 
as  an  unnecessary  and  extravagant  measure;  and  that,  unlike  the  vast  majority 
of  his  fellow  citizens  of  Amherst,  he  was  singularly  devoid  of  public  spirit.  The 
colonel's  powerful  influence  carried  the  bonding  bill  through  the  committee  of 
the  House  and  the  House  itself.  The  judiciary  committee  of  the  Senate,  how- 
ever, by  a  vote  of  3  to  2,  reported  leave  to  withdraw.  In  open  Senate  the  bill 
was  promptly  substituted  for  the  adverse  report,  and  was  passed  to  be  engrossed 
by  a  vote  of  16  to  1;  but  the  hard  condition  was  imposed  that  an  affirmative 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  present  and  voting  in  a  town  meeting  called  for  the 
purpose  should  be  requisite  to  give  validity  to  the  bonds. 

The  greatest  town  meeting  Amherst,  perhaps,  ever  had, —  certainly  one  of 
the  greatest,  the  one  that  was  to  settle  the  future  of  the  subscriptions,  —  came 
off  at  Agricultural  Hall  on  the  afternoon  of  May  8, 1865.  The  opposing  cohorts 
turned  out  with  full  ranks.  Edward  Dickinson  presented  the  votes,  which 
had  been  drawn  with  unusual  care,  and  made  a  brief  statement  calling  for  the 
yeas  and  nays  on  the  first  and  decisive  proposition.  There  was  no  debate. 
Every  man's  mind  was  too  firmly  made  up  to  leave  any  room  for  argument. 
Could  the  two-thirds  be  secured?  The  vote  was  taken  in  solemn  silence, 
broken  only  by  the  monotonous  responses,  "Yes"  or  "No."  Under  great 
tension  the  selectmen  canvassed  the  vote  and  announced  the  result:  463  votes 
were  cast,  359  in  the  affirmative,  104  in  the  negative.  The  cause  was  won. 
The  town  had  assumed  the  burden;  the  subscribers  were  safe.  Nine  mighty 
cheers  greeted  the  announcement.  The  remaining  necessary  subsidiary  votes 
were  promptly  carried.  The  meeting  expressed  its  thanks  to  Colonel  Clark 
for  his  successful  efforts  to  procure  the  passage  of  the  act,  to  which  compliment 
the  doughty  colonel  responded,  as  we  are  told,  "in  a  neat  and  spicy  speech, 
recounting  some  of  the  great  obstacles  encountered  and  overcome." 

Judge  Henry  F.  French  of  Cambridge,  who  had  been  prominent  in  advancing 
the  interests  of  the  college,  was  chosen  its  first  president,  in  November,  1865. 


17 

Not  a  building  was  then  erected,  and  upon  the  question  of  their  particular  loca- 
tion on  this  tract  much  discussion  ensued.  One  party  was  for  Plant  House  Hill, 
which  I  am  told  was  favored  by  President  French,  the  architect,  and  by  Mr. 
Olmsted,  the  distinguished  landscape  gardener.  The  decision  finally  fell  on 
this  spot,  which  was  then  called  the  "Flat,"  in  distinction  from  the  higher  land 
to  the  eastward.  The  deliberate  judgment  of  later  years  no  doubt  approves 
the  final  choice;  but  the  differences  then  existing,  and  some  other  causes,  led 
to  Judge  French's  resignation  in  September,  1866,  before  he  had  rounded  out 
a  single  year  of  service.  The  stately  pine  hedge,  guarding  the  eastern  boundary 
of  the  farm,  was  his  legacy.  President  Chadbourne,  who  succeeded  him  three 
months  later,  remained  only  until  June  of  1867,  when  delicate  health  compelled 
his  resignation.  These  were  seven  months  of  great  industry  and  fruitful  re- 
sults. Much  was  done  by  him  in  outlining  the  general  course  of  study  adopted 
by  the  college,  which  was  to  a  considerable  extent  an  adaptation  of  the  Hitch- 
cock outline  of  1851,  and  which  many  other  of  the  State  agricultural  colleges, 
and  some  institutions  abroad,  afterwards  closely  followed.  But  at  length 
Colonel  Clark  came  into  his  own.  He  was  elected  president  of  the  college  on 
the  first  day  of  June,  1867,  so  that  he  was  here  to  welcome  the  first  entering 
class  in  September.  But  I  have  now  reached  the  point  to  which  I  was  asked 
by  your  president  to  go,  in  this  rather  rambling  address. 

In  closing,  may  I  be  allowed  to  congratulate  the  alumni  of  the  college,  and 
you,  Mr.  President,  as  its  official  head,  on  the  successes  and  triumphs  of  the 
first  forty  years  of  its  literary  and  scientific  life.  For  you  and  your  associates, 
every  one,  I  invoke  the  peculiar  satisfaction  and  happiness  which  follow  and 
reward  the  successful  teacher.  May  these  young  men,  and  those  hereafter  to 
come  as  students  in  unbroken  current,  lay  here  deep  foundations  for  lives  of 
lofty  aims,  of  unselfish  service,  and  of  ever-increasing  influence  and  usefulness. 


KaX 


